Random access preamble coding for initiation of wireless mobile communications sessions

ABSTRACT

A method of operating a wireless communications unit (UE) to request a connection with a base station ( 10 ) is disclosed. The wireless unit (UE) receives a signal from the base station ( 10 ) indicating at least one time slot within which a preamble may be transmitted by the wireless communications unit (UE). The wireless unit (UE) selects one of a plurality of orthogonal codes (h i ) for the preamble and generates a spread code using the selected orthogonal code. The spread code ( 70 ) is arranged as a symbol (h i ) of the selected code, repeated a selected number of repetitions. The wireless unit (UE) transmits the preamble signal corresponding to the spread code to the base station ( 10 ).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, of U.S.Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 09/591,888, filed Jun. 9, 2000, andunder 35 U.S.C. §119(e)(1), of U.S. Provisional Applications No.60/138,713, filed Jun. 11, 1999, No. 60/139,334, filed Jun. 15, 1999,and No. 60/142,889, filed Jul. 8, 1999, all incorporated herein byreference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of mobile wireless communications, and ismore specifically directed to the initiation of multiple accesscommunications sessions.

The popularity of mobile wireless communications has increaseddramatically over recent years. It is expected that this technology willbecome even more popular in the foreseeable future, both in modern urbansettings and also in rural or developing regions that are not wellserved by line-based telephone systems. This increasing wireless trafficstrains the available communications bandwidth for a given level ofsystem infrastructure. As a result, there is substantial interest inincreasing bandwidth utilization of wireless communications system tohandle this growth in traffic.

Modern digital communications technology utilizes multiple-accesstechniques to increase bandwidth utilization, and thus to carry morewireless traffic. Under current approaches, both time division multipleaccess (TDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA) techniques areused in the art to enable the simultaneous operation of multiplecommunications conversations, or wireless “connections”. For purposes ofthis description, the term “conversations” refers to either voicecommunications, data communications, or any type of digitalcommunications. As evident from the name, TDMA communications areperformed by the assignment of time slots to each of multiplecommunications, with each conversation transmitted alternately overshort time periods. CDMA technology, on the other hand, permits multiplecommunications sessions to be transmitted simultaneously in both timeand frequency, by modulating the signal with a specified code. Onreceipt, application of the code will recover the correspondingconversation, to the exclusion of the other simultaneously receivedconversations.

As is fundamental in the art, a single base station in a wirelesscommunications network conducts communications sessions with multiplemobile wireless transmissions in an area of coverage, or “cell”. Inaddition, each base station is aware of the remaining bandwidthavailable for new communications sessions that may be initiated relativeto a wireless unit within its cell. In this regard, the base station isaware of the presence of those mobile wireless units that are turned onand within its cell, and also of the identity of those units, regardlessof whether the units are currently connected in a conversation. In thisway, wireless units may be called by another party from anywhere in thetelephone network, and the wireless units themselves may initiate aconnection by placing a call.

In order for a wireless unit to place a call to a particular telephonenumber, it must send a request for a connection to the base station. Aninitiation sequence is then carried out, according to conventionalsystems, in which the channel for the desired communications is assignedby the base station and acknowledged by the wireless unit.

For example, in a CDMA system, the base station and wireless unit must“agree” upon a modulation code to be used in the communications linkbetween these two stations. In conventional CDMA systems, the codes arenot determined a priori, given the transient nature of wireless unitswithin a base station coverage area. As such, techniques have beendeveloped by way of which the wireless units and base station maycommunicate prior to the assignment of a modulation code. According to awidely used technique for this initialization, the base stationperiodically broadcasts signals that indicate the number and position ofreserved time slots within a communications frame for initialization, toeach of the wireless units in its area that are not currently connected.These broadcast signals are received by each wireless unit, so that, inone of these time slots, the unit may send a signal to the base stationto request a connection. This request signal is commonly referred to asa “preamble,” following which the message part of the transmission iscommunicated.

It is quite likely, however, that multiple wireless units may try toestablish communications at the same time, and may therefore besimultaneously sending preambles within the same time slot. As such,conventional CDMA wireless communications systems specify a set ofmodulation codes from which the wireless unit selects a code to requesta connection. The codes in the set are orthogonal relative to oneanother, in the sense that the base station can resolve the sources ofsimultaneously received messages encoded by different ones of the set ofmodulation codes. Because the requesting wireless unit typically selectsa modulation code in a pseudo-random manner, these channel selectioncodes are typically referred to as “random access” codes. These randomaccess codes greatly reduce the probability of a collision between two(or more) wireless units in a coverage area requesting a connection atthe same time slot. For example, if eight time slots are available forrequesting a connection, using one of sixteen available random accesscodes, the likelihood of a collision between two wireless units thatrequest a connection is reduced from one in eight to one in 128.

An example of this random access approach uses a 256-chip spreading codein the generation of the preamble part of the transmission. Thisconventional approach is described in Technical Specification TS 25.213V2.1.0: Spreading and Modulation (3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project,1999). To request a communications session according to this approach, awireless unit randomly selects one of sixteen signature symbols for itspreamble. The signature consists of a sixteen-symbol sequence of plus orminus the complex value A=1+j. One example of a sixteen symbol signatureis [A, A, A, −A, −A, −A, A, −A, −A, A, A, −A, A, −A, A, A]. Each symbolin this preamble is then spread into 256 consecutive chips, followingwhich the spread preamble is modulated and transmitted to the basestation by the requesting wireless unit.

The mobile nature of the wireless units presents certain difficulties tothe resolution of simultaneous encoded request signals, however.Although random access codes, such as the 256-chip spread coded randomaccess preamble noted above, provide signatures that are theoreticallyorthogonal, this orthogonality presumes simultaneous receipt at the basestation. As noted above, preambles are simultaneously transmitted bymobile units in the time slots specified by the base station. However,simultaneously transmitted preambles from widely differing distances inthe cell will not simultaneously arrive at the base station. Accordingto the conventional 256-chip spread coded approach, coded signatures arenot necessarily orthogonal when one preamble is significantlytime-shifted relative to another. In other words, time-shifted preamblescoded according to this conventional approach will cross-correlate withone another. As such, in some circumstances, conventional CDMA basestations may not always be able to resolve different random access codesfrom multiple wireless units.

This cross-correlation of random access codes received from varyingtransmission distances has been addressed by prior techniques. Forexample, a so-called “long” code has been developed which uses areal-valued version of the uplink spreading code to spread the wirelessunit signature over a much longer preamble. The length of the preambleis, in this approach, selected to be significantly longer than thegreatest time delay expected within a given cell. This long code isderived simply by spreading each bit of a sixteen-bit Gold codesignature symbol A over a number of chips, for example 256 chips; inthis case, the sixteen-bit symbol becomes sixteen sequences of 256-chipvalues, for a total length of 4096 chips. This longer preamble greatlyreduces the cross-correlation between orthogonal signatures that arereceived at the maximum delay (and thus the maximum differentialdistance) relative to one another.

However, it has been observed that this long code approach remainsvulnerable to velocity variations between requesting mobile wirelessunits. The well-known Doppler effect refers to the shift in frequencythat results for a moving source of periodic signals. For the case ofmobile wireless units in a moving automobile, train, or especially anairplane, the Doppler shift causes a phase shift that accumulates overthe transmission length of the request. As noted above, the conventional“long” random access code has a length of 4096 chips (i.e., sixteensymbols of 256 chips each), over which the orthogonal signatures areanalyzed to resolve different wireless units. Because of this codelength, the accumulated Doppler phase shift can cause cross-correlationamong codes, so that the base station may not be able to resolvesimultaneous transmission requests.

Other approaches for encoding random access channel preambles have beenderived to address the problem of Doppler shifts on the transmittedsignals. One approach utilizes a differential encoding technique, inwhich the signature is determined by the differences between adjacentsymbols in the preamble. Some level of cross-correlation fortime-delayed signals has been observed for this differential approach,rendering it somewhat vulnerable to differences in distance betweensimultaneously-transmitting mobile wireless units. Because of thisvulnerability, coherent encoding over a long (e.g., 4096 chip) preamblehas been used for slowly moving or stationary transmitters to provideadequate orthogonality for variations in transmission distance, whilerapidly moving mobile units utilize the differential coding. Of course,the implementation of different random access channel encoding formobile units of different velocities significantly increases thecomplexity of transmitters and base stations.

Another approach uses segmented non-coherent decoding for fast-movingtransmitters, in which the receiver decodes the preamble in shortersegments of symbols, for example four segments of four symbols each.According to this technique, however, the segments are not orthogonalrelative to one another.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a randomaccess channel resolution method that is robust for mobile wirelesstransmissions from varying distances within a cell and also fortransmissions from units that are widely varying in velocity.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a methodin which the preamble encoding and decoding can be implemented in acomputationally efficient manner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a methodin which quite large frequency offsets due to moving transmitters may betolerated in the establishment of a wireless communications session.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the followingspecification together with its drawings.

The present invention may be implemented into a wireless communicationssystem in which the transmission preamble is based upon a Walsh Hadamardcode. Spreading is accomplished by repeating the code symbol a pluralityof times to create a preamble of a length corresponding to that of along code, creating a preamble of orthogonal symbols that are repeatedin a spread fashion. The preamble is multiplied by a cell-specific longcode, and the process is reversed upon receipt at the base station torecover the preamble.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of a cell of a wirelesscommunications system, according to the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of a mobile wirelesstelephone in the wireless communications system of FIG. 1, according tothe preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of a base station in thewireless communications system of FIG. 1, according to the preferredembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a functional diagram, in schematic form, illustrating dataflow in the encoding of wireless communications.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the arrangement of code symbols forgenerating a preamble, according to the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of a wireless unitand a base station, according to the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of chip-ratedemodulation and despreading circuitry in a base station, according to afirst preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of chip-ratedemodulation and despreading circuitry in a base station, according to asecond preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of chip-ratedemodulation and despreading circuitry in a base station, according to athird preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be described in connection with a wirelessvoice and data communications system, particularly in the case where thewireless units are mobile within an area of coverage, or “cell”.Further, the particular preferred embodiment of the invention will bedescribed relative to such a system in which multiple communications ofthe Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) type are handled by a basestation in the cell. It is contemplated, however, that the presentinvention may also be used with other communications systems, forexample mobile wireless communications using Time Division MultipleAccess (TDMA) or other spread spectrum or broadband technologies, aswell as other applications. It is to be understood, therefore, that thefollowing description is presented by way of example only, and is notintended to limit the scope of the present invention as claimed.

An example of a deployment of a wireless communications system,according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, is illustratedin FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, base station 10 is located somewhatcentrally within an area of coverage, or cell, 14. Base station 10, asis conventional in the art, is a fixed facility which transmits andreceives broadband, or spread spectrum, wireless communications to andfrom wireless units UE that are physically located within cell 14. Asshown in FIG. 1, and is typical in the art, wireless units UE are mobilewireless units, such as digital cellular telephones. The number ofwireless units UE within cell 14 may vary widely, depending upon thetime of day, day of the week, and other events that can affect wirelesstelephone density within cell 14.

Typically, a large fraction of the wireless units UE within cell 14 aremobile units, and as such may be anywhere within the transmission areaof cell 14 at any given point in time. For example, wireless unit UE₂ isquite close to base station 10, while wireless unit UE_(n) is relativelydistant from base station 10, near the edge of cell 14. Furthermore,wireless units UE may be moving within cell 14. For example, wirelessunit UE₁ is moving away from base station 10 at velocity v. Thesevariations in distance among wireless units UE, and their velocities oftravel, present difficulties in the resolving of preamble codes forconnection requests, according to conventional techniques. As will bedescribed below, the preamble coding according to the preferredembodiment of the invention efficiently provides good resolution ofcoded preambles transmitted from different distances and at significantvelocities.

The communications carried out between base station 10 and wirelessunits UE are, in this example, telephonic conversations between one ofwireless units UE and another telephone set elsewhere in the telephonenetwork. Base station 10 therefore includes the appropriate circuitryfor effecting broadband communications with wireless units UE, as willbe described in further detail below; additionally, base station 10includes switching system 12 that carries out some level of switching ofthe communications links between individual wireless units UE and thepublic switched telephone network (PSTN).

Wireless units UE, as noted above, correspond to mobile wirelesstelephone sets. FIG. 2 is an electrical diagram, in block form, of theelectronic architecture of a typical mobile wireless unit UE_(j) (theindex j referring generically to one of the wireless units UE shown inFIG. 1). It is contemplated, of course, that different ones of thewireless units UE in the overall system, such as shown in FIG. 1, may beconstructed according to different architectures. As such, thearchitecture of the construction of wireless unit UE_(j) shown in FIG. 2is provided by way of example only, it being understood that such otheralternative architectures may also be used in connection with thepresent invention.

The exemplary architecture illustrated in FIG. 2 corresponds to aso-called “second generation”, or “2G” baseband architecture, such as istypically used to carry out TDMA and CDMA broadband communications.Radio subsystem 22 of wireless unit UE_(j) is directly connected toantenna A, and handles the power amplification and analog processing ofsignals transmitted and received over antenna A. On the transmit side,modulator 27 in radio subsystem 22 receives the signals to betransmitted from RF (radio frequency) interface circuitry 30, andgenerates a broadband modulated analog signal, under the control ofsynthesizer 25. Power amplifier 21 amplifies the output of modulator 27for transmission via antenna A. On the receive side, incoming signalsfrom antenna A are received by receiver 23, filtered and processed underthe control of synthesizer 25, and forwarded to RF interface circuitry30.

RF interface circuitry 30 processes both incoming and outgoing signalswithin the analog baseband of wireless unit UE_(j). On the transmitside, RF interface circuitry 30 receives digital signals from digitalsignal processor (DSP) 32, and performs the appropriate filtering andphase modulation appropriate for the particular transmission protocol.For example, multiple channels of encoded digital bitstreams may beforwarded to RF interface circuitry 30 by DSP 32. RF interface circuitry30 converts these digital data into analog signals, phase-shiftingselected converted bitstreams to provide both in-phase (I) andquadrature (Q) analog signal components, and applies analog filtering asappropriate to the signals as handed off to modulator 27 in radiosubsystem 22 described above.

On the receive side, RF interface circuitry 30 converts the analogsignal received by receiver 23 of radio subsystem 22 into theappropriate digital format for processing by DSP 32. For example, thein-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the received signal areseparated and filtered. Analog to digital conversion is then carried outby RF interface circuitry 30, so that digital bitstreams correspondingto the separated and filtered components of the received signal may bereceived by DSP 32.

DSP 32 executes the appropriate digital signal processing upon both thesignals to be transmitted and those received. In this regard, DSP 32 isconnected to audio interface 34, which in turn is coupled to microphoneM and speaker S for input and output, respectively. Audio interface 34includes the necessary analog-to-digital conversion circuitry andfiltering for generating a sampled bitstream digital signal based uponthe sound received by microphone M, and conversely includesdigital-to-analog conversion circuitry, filtering, and amplification fordriving speaker S with an analog signal corresponding to the receivedand processed communications.

The digital functions performed by DSP 32 will depend, of course, uponthe communications protocol used by wireless unit UE_(j). On the receiveside, DSP 32 will perform such functions as channel decoding of the datafrom RF interface circuitry 30 to retrieve a data signal from thedigitally spread signal received, followed by the decoding of the speechsymbols from the channel decoded data using techniques such as inversediscrete Fourier transforms (IDFT) and the like. Equalization, errorcorrection, and decryption processes are also performed upon thereceived signal as appropriate. The resulting signal processed by DSP 32on the receive side is then forwarded to audio interface 34, foramplification and output over speaker S.

On the transmit side, substantially the converse operations are applied.The incoming digitally sampled voice input from microphone M via audiointerface 34 is encoded into symbols, for example by way of a DFToperation, and the symbols are then encoded into a digital spreadspectrum signal by the application of channel codes. Scrambling or otherencryption processing is then performed, along with the necessarypre-equalization and other filtering. The resulting digital signal isthen forwarded to RF interface circuitry 30, as noted above.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, DSP 32is operable to generate preamble codes to be transmitted by wirelessunit UE_(j). These preamble codes are transmitted over antenna A torequest the initiation of a communications session, such as a wirelesstelephone conversation. These orthogonal preamble codes are selected,according to this preferred embodiment of the invention, to beresolvable over a wide range of distances of wireless unit UE_(j) frombase station 10 (FIG. 1), and in the event that wireless unit UE_(j) isbeing used in a rapidly traveling conveyance such as an automobile,train, or airplane. The generation of these preambles will be describedin further detail below.

In this regard, DSP 32 preferably has a significant amount of processingcapacity to handle the digital processing necessary for both thetransmit and receive operations. An example of a suitable digital signalprocessor for use as DSP 32 is the TMS320c5x family of digital signalprocessors available from Texas Instruments Incorporated.

Other support circuitry is also provided within wireless unit UE_(j) asshown in FIG. 2. In this example, microcontroller 36 handles the controlof wireless unit UE_(j) other than the data path. Such control functionsinclude resource management, operating system control, and control ofthe human interface; in this regard, microcontroller 36 operates withsuch functions as flash memory 33 (for storage of the operating systemand user preferences), SIM card 35 (for add-on functionality), keypad37, and user display 38. In addition, wireless unit UE_(j) also includesbattery interface and power control subsystem 31, as shown in FIG. 2,for monitoring the status of the battery for wireless unit UE_(j), andimplementing power saving functions such as sleep modes, and the like.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the construction of an example of base station10 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention will now bedescribed, for the case of a second/third generation base transceiverstation. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that thisparticular architecture is provided by way of example only, and thatother base station architectures may be used according to the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 3, base station 10 includes amplifiers 42 for drivingamplified transmission signals over one or more base station antennaeBSA, and for amplifying signals received from those antennae BSA. RFinterface function 44 includes the appropriate transmit and receiveformatting and filtering circuitry. Additionally, RF interface function44 includes analog-to-digital converters for digitizing the amplifiedreceive signals, and digital-to-analog converters for placing thetransmitted signals into the analog domain. As such, RF interfacefunction 44 communicates digitally with baseband interface 45, whichprovides the appropriate signal formatting between RF interface function44 and baseband device 40.

Baseband device 40 communicates with the ultimate network, which may beof the E1 or T1 class, or a packet network as shown in FIG. 3, by way ofphysical layer interface 55 and network interface adapter 56. Physicallayer interface 55 and network interface adapter 56 are conventionalsubsystems, selected according to the type of network and correspondinginterface desired for base station 10. In the implementation of FIG. 1,network interface adapter 56 interfaces with switching system 12.

Baseband device 40 performs the digital signal processing functions inhandling the wireless communications at base station 10. To perform thisfunction, it is contemplated that baseband device 40 will be a subsystemincluding one or more high-performance digital signal processor (DSP)devices, such as those of the TMS320c5x and TMS320c6x class of DSPsavailable from Texas Instruments Incorporated, along with theappropriate memory and external functions suitable for handling thedigital processing requirements of base station 10. In FIG. 3, theimplementation of baseband device 40 will be described according to itsvarious functions, rather than by way of its construction, it beingcontemplated that those skilled in the art will be readily able torealize baseband device 40 using such conventional integrated circuitsfrom this functional description, and according to the capacity desiredfor base station 10.

On the transmit side, baseband device 40 includes encode and modulatefunction 54, which is coupled between physical layer interface 55 andbaseband interface 45, as shown in FIG. 3. Encode and modulate function54 receives digital data from physical layer interface 55, and performsthe appropriate digital processing functions for the particularprotocol. For example, encode and modulate function 54 may first encodethe received digital data into symbols. These symbols are then spread,by way of a spreading code, into a sequence of chips, according to aselected chip rate; the spreading may also include the spreading of thesymbols into multiple subchannels. Typically, a cell-specific scramblingcode is then applied to the spread symbols, so that the receivingwireless unit UE can distinguish transmissions generated by this basestation 10, from those of neighboring cells. Modulation of the spreadsymbols is then performed; commonly, the multiple subchannels are splitinto in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) groups, so that the eventualmodulated signal includes both components. The spread spectrum signal isthen applied to baseband interface 45, after the appropriate filteringand pre-equalization for channel distortion, for transmission overantennae BSA via RF interface function 44 and amplifiers 42.

On the receive side, baseband device 40 receives incoming digitalsignals from baseband interface 45, after digitization of the receivedsignals within RF interface function 44. These signals are applied tochip-rate demodulation and despreading function 48, the construction ofwhich will be described in further detail below, and which derives thetransmitted symbols from the digitized received data. Considering thatbase station 10 receives signals over multiple channels, from multiplewireless units UE in its cell 14, channel estimation function 46estimates the random channel variation. Channel estimation function 46and chip-rate demodulation and despreading function 48 each provideoutput to symbol user detection and combining function 50, in which thedemodulated data are associated with their respective channels,following which symbol decode function 52 decodes the received symbols,for each channel and thus each conversation, into a bit stream suitablefor communication to the network via physical layer interface 55 andnetwork interface function 56.

As discussed above, the present invention is directed to the generationof connection requests by mobile units, such as wireless telephone unitsUE in the example of FIG. 1, and to the receipt and decoding of suchrequests by the corresponding base station 10. Referring now to FIGS. 4and 5, the principle of operation in the generation of preambles forrequesting connection, according to the preferred embodiment of theinvention, will now be described.

FIG. 4 illustrates the data flow for a transmitting element, such asmobile user equipment UE in the system of FIG. 1, for example configuredas shown in FIG. 2. In this example, a data bitstream x(k) correspondsto the symbol stream that is to be transmitted, for example as part ofthe eventual data message. This bitstream x(k) is multiplied, inoperation 58, by spreading code h(k). Spreading operation 58 spreadseach bit of bitstream x(k) into multiple “chips”, as known in the art.In effect, spreading operation 58 converts each bit of bitstream x(k)into a series of samples, or chips, modulated by the particular codeh(k), with the chip rate out of operation 58 thus being a multiple ofthe data rate of bitstream x(k). A gain factor β is then applied to thespread output of operation 58 in gain stage 60, to adjust the power ofthe particular channel.

The channel corresponding to bitstream x(k) is an in-phase component (I)that is then combined, at adder 62, with a quadrature component (Q). Asknown in the art, the transmission may consist of a single data channelas shown in FIG. 4, combined by adder 62 with a control channel that isat 90° phase relative to the data channel; this quadrature arrangementpermits separation of the data and control information upon receipt. Asknown in the art, the transmission may also be carried out over multipledata channels, each channel receiving a different one of a set oforthogonal spreading codes h(k) to permit separation. The multiple datachannels may be grouped into in-phase and quadrature groups, with thegroups combined prior to adder 62, as known in the art. Only a singledata channel for bitstream x(k) is shown in FIG. 4, for clarity in thisdescription, it being understood that those skilled in the art will bereadily able to incorporate the present invention into a multiplechannel transmission.

The combined I and Q components from adder 62 are then scrambled by ascrambling code c(k) in operation 64. Scrambling code c(k) iscell-specific, in that all transmissions taking place in the same cell(e.g., cell 14 of FIG. 1) use the same scrambling code. Scrambling codec(k) thus allows each system element to resolve incoming communicationsfor its cell from those that may be received from other cells.Typically, scrambling code c(k) is a “long” code, for example 4096 chipsin length.

Following scrambling operation 64, the scrambled spread signal is thenmodulated for transmission by operations 66, 68 into in-phase andquadrature components, respectively. Given that scrambling code c(k)will generally have complex coefficients, the in-phase and quadratureoutput components from operations 66, 68 will generally not correspondto the in-phase and quadrature input components to adder 62.

The coding of FIG. 4 applied to transmission is, of course, fullyreversible upon receipt.

In addition to the voice or data communication payloads, preambles aregenerated according to the scheme of FIG. 4 by wireless units UE torequest a connection with base station 10. According to the presentinvention, the particular spreading codes h(k) are selected to provideorthogonality even in situations where simultaneously requestingwireless units UE are at widely differing distances from base station10, and moving at significant velocities, such as suggested by FIG. 1.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the spreadingcodes h(k) applied in operation 58 correspond to repetitions of aselected one of a set of orthogonal Walsh Hadamard codes. In effect, theinput bitstream x(k) is assumed to be “1”, so that the output ofoperation 58 is a Walsh Hadamard code symbol itself. This spreading codeoutput is then multiplied, in operation 64, by the cell-specificscrambling code. As will become apparent below, the selection of WalshHadamard codes is particularly beneficial in facilitating transformoperations upon receipt.

According to an exemplary implementation of the preferred embodiment ofthe invention, scrambling code c(k) is a 4096 chip segment of a 2²⁵-1length, real-valued, Gold code. Preferably, cell-specific scramblingcode c(k) is formed in the same manner as the in-phase dedicated channeluplink scrambling code, and as such is selected as one of 256 orthogonal4096-chip segments of the orthogonal Gold code, with the 256 codesdetermined from different initial shift register contents in such codegeneration. The resulting scrambling code c(k) is then associated withsixteen possible preamble codes h(k), each corresponding to a differentWalsh Hadamard code.

As is well known, length 16 Walsh Hadamard codes h_(m)(k), for m=0, 1, .. . , 15 are specified as:

h₀ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 h₁ 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −11 −1 h₂ 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 h₃ 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1−1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 h₄ 1 1 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 1 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 h₅ 1 −1 1−1 −1 1 −1 1 1 −1 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1 h₆ 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 1 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −11 1 h₇ 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1 1 −1 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1 1 −1 h₈ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 −1 −1−1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 h₉ 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 −1 1 h₁₀ 1 1 −1−1 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 h₁₁ 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 11 −1 h₁₂ 1 1 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 1 1 1 h₁₃ 1 −1 1 −1 −1 1 −1 1−1 1 −1 1 1 −1 1 −1 h₁₄ 1 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 1 1 −1 −1 h₁₅ 1 −1−1 1 −1 1 1 −1 −1 1 1 −1 1 −1 −1 1According to this exemplary implementation, the selected preamble codeh(k) is repeated 256 times, in an interleaved fashion as will now bedescribed.

Of course, alternative combinations of preamble code length and numberof repetitions may equivalently be used. For example, a Hadamard code oflength 32 could be repeated 128 times, to still correspond to the4096-chip scrambling code. Scrambling codes of different length may alsobe used, depending upon the application, providing still morecombinations of code length and number of repetitions.

Consider the set of sixteen Walsh Hadamard codes h_(m)(k), m=0, 1, . . ., 15, and the set of 256 scrambling codes c_(n)(k) n=0, 1, . . . , 255,where each code h_(m) is sixteen chips long, and each code c_(n) is 4096chips long. The m^(th) preamble s_(mn) output by operation 64 of FIG. 4,corresponding to the n^(th) scrambling code, may be expressed:

${s_{mn}(k)} = {{c_{n}(k)}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{255}{h_{m}\left( {k - {16i}} \right)}}}$The summation term:

$\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{255}{h_{m}\left( {k - {16i}} \right)}$corresponds to 256 repetitions of the length sixteen Walsh Hadamardcode. As shown in FIG. 5, the arrangement of preamble symbol 70according to the preferred embodiment of the invention consists of oneof the sixteen possible Walsh Hadamard code symbols h_(m), repeated 256times to create a 4096-chip preamble. In other words, the first bit isthe same in each of the 256 code symbols h_(m), the second bit is thesame in each of the 256 code symbols h_(m), and so on. This arrangementof preamble symbol 70 is thus in stark contrast to conventional Goldcoded preambles, in which each bit of the Gold code symbol is repeatedover a number of chips, followed by the next bit repeated for thosechips, and so on. Also as shown in FIG. 5 and as noted above, preamblesymbol 70 is then multiplied by the particular cell-specific scramblingcode c_(n), prior to transmission.

Of course, the number of repetitions of the Walsh Hadamard code symbolwill vary with the length of the “long” code that is to be applied, andas such the implementation described above and illustrated in FIG. 5 isby way of example only. Another example, corresponding to currentstandards, utilizes a 3840-chip long code. In this case, the lengthsixteen Walsh Hadamard code is repeated 240 times.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the overall operation of wireless unit UE incombination with base station 10, in requesting a connection accordingto the preferred embodiment of the invention, will now be described. Aswill be apparent from the following description, the operationsillustrated in FIG. 6 are primarily performed by DSP 32 in thearchitecture of wireless unit UE shown in FIG. 2, according to thispreferred embodiment of the invention; of course, the particular circuitexecuting the operations of FIG. 6 will depend upon the specificarchitecture used to realize wireless unit UE. As shown in FIG. 6, thisoperation begins, in process 72, with wireless unit UE receivingcell-specific scrambling code c_(n) from base station 10, for exampleupon entry of wireless unit UE into cell 14 serviced by base station 10.This cell-specific scrambling code c_(n) is used by wireless unit UE forits transmissions, both the preamble for requesting a connection andalso the eventual payload.

In process 74, wireless unit UE receives a broadcast message from basestation 10 that indicates the particular periodic time slots withinwhich any wireless unit UE may transmit a preamble in order to request aconnection. As known in the art, this broadcast by base station 10 isperiodic, so that the wireless units UE may receive updates of the timeslots currently available for these requests; of course, depending uponthe instantaneous call traffic within the cell, the number of availabletime slots will vary over tine. In decision 76, wireless unit UE decideswhether its user wishes to place a call; if not (decision 76 is NO),wireless unit UE returns to process 74 to again receive the nextbroadcast of the available time slots for requesting connections, andrepeats decision 76 accordingly.

Upon the user wishing to place a call (decision 76 is YES), wirelessunit UE selects one of the available time slots for issuing the request,and selects one of the Walsh Hadamard codes h_(m) for constructing thepreamble, both in process 78. According to the preferred embodiment ofthe invention, the selection of process 78 is performed by way of apseudo-random selection algorithm, in order to minimize the likelihoodthat another wireless unit UE in the same cell 14 will select the sametime slot and same Walsh Hadamard code for its own request. According tothe preferred embodiment of the invention as described above, in whichsixteen Walsh Hadamard codes h_(m) of length sixteen are available,selection process 78 will thus randomly select one of the sixteen codesh_(m) listed above.

In process 80, DSP 32 in wireless unit UE spreads the selected WalshHadamard code h_(m) in an interleaved fashion, by repeating the codesymbol a number of times sufficient to match the length of the eventualsampling code. For the present example, in which a 4096-chip scramblingcode c_(n) is used, the length sixteen Walsh Hadamard code h_(m) isrepeated 256 times (16 times 256 being 4096), effectively spreading thecode symbol in an interleaved fashion as described above relative toFIG. 5. Process 82 is then performed by wireless unit UE to multiply thespread code symbol according to the cell-specific scrambling code c_(n)received from base station 10. Further oversampling of the scrambledsignal may also be applied, as desired. The resulting preamble is thenmodulated and transmitted 84 by wireless unit UE to base station 10during the available time slot that was selected in process 78.

Base station 10 receives the transmitted preamble in process 86. Thereceived signal corresponding to this preamble is amplified, convertedfrom analog to digital, filtered, and the like, by circuitry such asamplifiers 42, RF interface 44, and baseband interface 45 of basestation 10 for the exemplary architecture of FIG. 3. The resultingdigital signal is then descrambled, demodulated, and de-spread bychip-rate demodulate and despread function 48 of base station 10, torecover the particular Walsh Hadamard code symbol h_(m) that wasselected and transmitted by wireless unit UE.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary construction of chip-rate demodulate anddespread function 48 according to the preferred embodiment of theinvention, which operates according to the method illustrated in FIG. 6.

According to this implementation, the incoming digitized signal is firstapplied to a series of tapped delay lines 100, for de-interleaving thevarious interleaved spread code symbols in process 88 according to thepreferred embodiment of the invention, as will now be described indetail. As shown in FIG. 7, the cell-specific scrambling code is c(k) isdecoded by descrambling matched filter 98, and the resulting bit streamis applied to delay line 100 ₀. As in the example of delay line 100 ₀,each of delay lines 100 include a series of delay stages D. The lengthof each delay line 100 is 16n, where n is the oversampling factor. Tapsare located prior to the first delay stage D, and prior to every n delaystages thereafter. The example of delay line 100 ₀ in FIG. 7 illustratesan oversampling factor n=2, such that there are two delay stages Dbetween taps. The output of delay line l00 ₀ is applied to the input ofdelay line 100 ₁, which is next in sequence, and so on. For the presentexample, in which a length sixteen Walsh Hadamard code is spread 256times, the number of delay lines 100 in chip-rate demodulate anddespread function 48 is 256, as evident by final delay line 100 ₂₅₅ inthe sequence shown.

The taps from delay lines 100 are routed to appropriate ones ofdespreaders 102. Despreaders 102 constitute circuitry or functionalityfor combining corresponding bits of the incoming bitstream back into thebit values for a code symbol, and in this manner “despread” the numberof chips for each bit back into a single bit value. Additionally,despreaders 102 apply the appropriate coefficients of the cell-specificscrambling code to the incoming bits, to reverse the multiplication ofthe spread code by scrambling code c_(n) that was performed intransmission. In this example of length sixteen Walsh Hadamard codes,sixteen instances of despreaders 102 (i.e., despreaders 102 ₀ through102 ₁₅) are provided, each despreader 102 having a length of 256 asindicated in FIG. 7. According to this preferred embodiment of theinvention, in which the symbol is repeated, the bits within the symbolare interleaved among the repetitions, as described above.De-interleaving process 90 in the flow of FIG. 6 is thus performed byeach despreader 102 receiving one tap from each of the 256 delay lines100, from a tap position corresponding to the position of despreader 102among the series of despreaders 102 ₀ through 102 ₁₅. For example, firstdespreader 102 ₀ receives the first tap from delay line 100 ₀ as shown,and the first tap from each of the 255 other delay lines 100 ₁ through100 ₂₅₅. Second despreader 102 ₁ receives the next tap from delay line100 ₀, after n delay stages D as shown, as well as the second tap fromeach of the 255 other delay lines 100 ₁ through 100 ₂₅₅ as shown. Thisarrangement continues for all of the remaining despreaders 102 ₂ through102 ₁₅ in this example. The combination of the input taps to eachdespreader 102 is thus analyzed to generate an output bit, with thecombination of the outputs of despreaders 102 constituting a sixteen-bitsymbol in this embodiment of the invention.

The outputs of sixteen despreaders 102 ₀ through 102 ₁₅ are applied as asixteen-bit symbol to transform and code correlation function 104, whichcompares this symbol, for example by way of correlation, to each of thepossible Walsh Hadamard codes h_(m) in the set, in process 94. In thisexample, transform and code correlation function 104 performs a WalshHadamard transform of length 16, and correlates this result against thetransforms for each of the possible codes h_(m). Sixteen outputs aregenerated, each of which is associated with one of the possible codesh_(m), and indicating the extent to which the received bitstreamcorrelates with its associated code h_(m). These outputs are thenanalyzed at base station 10, for example in symbol user detection andcombining function 50 (FIG. 3), to resolve the identity of the wirelessunit UE that forwarded the request corresponding to the decodedpreamble. Assuming that this decoded preamble is valid, base station 10then initiates the requested connection to the requesting wireless unitUE, in process 96, enabling the communication of the voice or datapayload information.

According to this preferred embodiment of the invention, significantadvantages in the resolution of preamble codes are provided. Theinterleaving of the spread preamble code, illustrated by way of examplein FIG. 5, provides a short length over which the coded symbols arecoherent, and remain orthogonal. In the above example, each symbol iscoherent over sixteen chips (times the applied oversampling factor),repeated 256 times. This short coherency length allows preambles ofrapidly moving mobile units to be reliably resolved, since theaccumulated Doppler phase shift is insignificant over such a short codelength. However, the repetition of the symbols over the long code lengthprovides the ability to resolve preambles transmitted by wireless unitsat widely varying distances within the cell. In the above example, thecode symbol of length sixteen is repeated 256 times, resulting in a4096-chip symbol that can be readily resolved even with significantvariations in receipt delay.

Additionally, as described above relative to the example of FIG. 7, thepreamble coding according to the preferred embodiment of the inventionis especially efficient in its decoding. Referring to FIG. 7, each ofthe despreaders 102 can operate in parallel with one another, such thatthe entire despreading process 90 (FIG. 6) can be done at once. It hasalso been calculated that the expected computational complexity for thepreamble coding of the preferred embodiment of the invention is lessthan that for conventional Gold coding. As a result, the benefits of thepresent invention in providing excellent resolution of preambles overwide distance variations and for rapidly moving transmitters areobtained at no computational cost, and indeed some improvement in thecomputational complexity.

As noted above, the present invention may be implemented in a variety ofarchitectures and arrangements. In addition, it is contemplated that thecoding and decoding described above may be implemented in combinationwith conventional approaches, including the conventional long coherentcode, and segmented code, described above. In such combinations, it isfurther contemplated that a base station may receive and decodepreambles according to the present invention and also according to theseconventional techniques, in which case the base station may use theapproach providing the highest correlation power.

In this regard, referring now to FIG. 8, the construction of chip-ratedemodulate and despread function 48′ according to a second preferredembodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail.This second preferred embodiment of the invention corresponds to asegmented non-coherent decoding of the incoming preamble; in thisparticular example, four segments are each sixty-four symbols long, witheach symbol being a Walsh Hadamard code of length sixteen. Of course,other segment lengths may alternatively be used in combination withdifferent code lengths, as desired. For the example of a 4096-chip longcode and length sixteen Walsh Hadamard codes, alternative segmentlengths and numbers may include eight segments of thirty-two symbolseach, and two segments of 128 symbols each.

As shown in FIG. 8, the input data stream is again received by delaylines 100, as in the example of FIG. 7. As before, delay lines 100include 256 delay lines 100 ₀ through 100 ₂₅₅, each having 16 times ndelay stages D therein, where n is the oversampling factor. Delay lines100 are tapped along their length as before, to provide 4096 outputsT(0) through T(4095) in this example. These outputs T are applied in aninterleaved fashion to depsreaders 122 ₀ through 122 ₆₃, each of whichis of length 64 in this embodiment of the invention.

According to this second preferred embodiment of the invention, the codesymbols are considered in segments of sixty-four symbols each, ratherthan coherently over the entire 4096-chip long code length. As such,despreaders 122 receive inputs from only a subset of delay lines 100.For example, first despreader 122 ₀ receives the first tap (i.e., priorto the first delay stage D) from each of the first sixty-four delaylines 100 ₀ through 100 ₆₃; according to the nomenclature of FIG. 8,these inputs are inputs T(0), T(16), T(32), . . . , up to T(1008). Thenext despreader 122 ₁ receives the second tap from each of the firstsixty-four delay lines 100 ₀ through 100 ₆₃, namely inputs T(1), T(17),and so on up to T(1009). In this manner, despreaders 122 ₀ through 122₁₅ receive each of the taps from the first sixty-four delay lines 100,namely the first 1024 taps on lines T(0) through T(1023). These firstsixteen despreaders thus despread the interleaved chip samples of thefirst sixty-four repetitions of the length sixteen Walsh Hadamard codesymbol, and thus despread the symbols of the first of four segments,according to this embodiment of the invention.

The next segment of sixty-four repetitions begins with despreader 122₁₆, which receives the first taps from each of the next group of delaylines 100 (i.e., delay lines 100 ₆₄ through 100 ₁₂₇; these first tapsare presented on lines T(1024) through T(2032). The remainingdespreaders 122 ₁₆ through 122 ₆₃ are thus arranged in three moresegments, similarly as for the first segment of despreaders 122 ₀through 122 ₁₅, each despreader having a length of sixty-four. To theextent that a segmented cell-specific code was applied in transmission,to segments of sixty-four symbols, the four sets of despreaders 122applied to these symbols divide out the cell-specific code from theirinputs. According to the nomenclature of FIG. 8, the output ofdespreader 122 ₀ is presented on line V(0), the output of despreader 122₁ is presented on line V(1), and so on, with the output of the lastdespreader 122 ₆₃ presented on line V(63).

According to this example, the sixty-four outputs V(0) through V(63)from despreaders 122 are then applied, in groups of sixteen to representa length sixteen Walsh Hadamard code symbol, to one of four WalshHadamard transform and code correlation functions 124 ₀ through 124 ₃.Specifically, first Walsh Hadamard transform and code correlationfunction 124 ₀ receives outputs V(0) through V(15), second WalshHadamard transform and code correlation function 124 ₁ receives outputsV(16) through V(31), Walsh Hadamard transform and code correlationfunction 124 ₂ receives outputs V(32) through V(47), and Walsh Hadamardtransform and code correlation function 124 ₃ receives outputs V(48)through V(63). As described above relative to FIG. 7, Walsh Hadamardtransform and code correlation functions 124 transform the incomingsymbol and compare the transformed symbol against the sixteen possiblelength sixteen Walsh Hadamard code values; each function 124 thengenerates sixteen outputs X, each indicative of the degree to which theincoming symbol matches the code value corresponding to the output.

According to this second preferred embodiment of the invention, outputsX from Walsh Hadamard transform and code correlation functions 124 areapplied to segmenting logic functions 126 ₀ through 126 ₁₅, to determinethe correspondence to the respective symbol values. Segmenting logicfunctions 126 number sixteen in this embodiment, because the number ofpossible Walsh Hadamard code values for a code of sixteen length issixteen. In this regard, segmenting logic function 126 ₀ corresponds toWalsh Hadamard code value h₀ indicated above in the table, and ingeneral segmenting logic function 126 _(m) corresponds to Walsh Hadamardcode value h_(m). As shown in FIG. 8, segmenting logic function 126 ₀receives output X(0) from Walsh Hadamard transform and code correlationfunction 124 ₀, output X(1) from Walsh Hadamard transform and codecorrelation function 124 ₁, output X(2) from Walsh Hadamard transformand code correlation function 124 ₂, and output X(3) from Walsh Hadamardtransform and code correlation function 124 ₃. Each of these outputsX(0) through X(3) provide an indication of the degree to which thesymbol applied to the corresponding Walsh Hadamard transform and codecorrelation function 124 matches Walsh Hadamard code symbol value h₀.Similarly, the other fifteen segmenting logic functions 126 ₁ through126 ₁₅ receive their corresponding inputs from each of the WalshHadamard transform and code correlation functions 124, for theircorresponding symbol.

According to this second preferred embodiment of the invention,segmenting logic functions 126 each perform a power summation of theamplitude of their input signals. Specifically, for the example ofsegmenting logic function 126 ₀, the power summation corresponds to:|X(0)|²+|X(16)|²+|X(32)|²+|X(48)|²The summation presented by segmenting logic functions 126, for each oftheir corresponding Walsh Hadamard code symbols h, provide a goodindication of which symbol was transmitted by wireless unit UE as itspreamble. The segmented nature of the decoding, according to thisembodiment of the invention, provides additional immunity to Dopplershift effects, as the duration over which coherency is required islimited to sixty-four symbols, while each of the segments contributes tothe code resolution operation.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the construction of chip-rate demodulation anddespreading function 48″ according to a third preferred embodiment ofthe invention will now be described. Common elements in function 48″ asin function 48′ of FIG. 8 are referred to in connection with the samereference numeral, and as such no additional description will beprovided for these elements.

According to this third preferred embodiment of the invention, however,segmenting logic functions 136 detect differentially encoded codesymbols, also arranged into segments of sixty-four symbols in thisexample. In this embodiment of the invention, the preamble correspondsto a sequence of differences that are maximized for the symbol fromsegment to segment.

The signal paths in chip-rate demodulation and despreading function 48″shown in FIG. 9 are identical to those in FIG. 8 for function 48′, inthis example. This similarity includes segmenting logic function 136 ₀receiving output X(0) from Walsh Hadamard transform and code correlationfunction 124 ₀, output X(16) from Walsh Hadamard transform and codecorrelation function 124 ₁, output X(32) from Walsh Hadamard transformand code correlation function 124 ₂, and output X(48) from WalshHadamard transform and code correlation function 124 ₃. Similarly, theother fifteen segmenting logic functions 136 ₁ through 136 ₁₅ receivetheir corresponding inputs from each of the Walsh Hadamard transform andcode correlation functions 124, for their corresponding symbol.

The function performed by segmenting logic function 136 ₀, in deriving adifference value according to this preferred embodiment of theinvention, corresponds to:|X(16)X(0)*+X(32)X(16)*+X(48)X(32)*|where the * indicates complex conjugate. The same difference operationis performed by each of the other segmenting logic functions 136 ₁through 136 ₁₅ upon their respective inputs. In this manner, the one ofsegmenting logic functions 136 generating the highest amplitude outputbased on its difference function will indicate the preamble valuetransmitted, as differentially encoded.

It is contemplated that these, and other coding and decoding alternativeembodiments, may be used in connection with the present invention, whilestill attaining the benefits of efficient computation and realization,with good performance over varying transmission distances and mobileunit velocities.

While the present invention has been described according to itspreferred embodiments, it is of course contemplated that modificationsof, and alternatives to, these embodiments, such modifications andalternatives obtaining the advantages and benefits of this invention,will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having referenceto this specification and its drawings. It is contemplated that suchmodifications and alternatives are within the scope of this invention assubsequently claimed herein.

1. A method of decoding a preamble, comprising the steps of: extractinga first number of groups of signals having a second number of signals ineach group from a data stream having a predetermined length, whereineach group has a third number of subgroups; applying one signal fromeach subgroup to a respective despreader circuit of a third number ofdespreader circuits, each despreader circuit producing a respectiveoutput signal; and producing at least one transform from the outputsignals from the third number of despreader circuits, the at least onetransform having the third number of signals.
 2. A method as in claim 1,comprising summing a respective signal corresponding to the at least onetransform at a third number of sum circuits, thereby producing the thirdnumber of sum signals.
 3. A method as in claim 2, wherein a product ofthe first and second numbers is equal to the predetermined length.
 4. Amethod as in claim 3, wherein the first number is 4, the second numberis 1024, the third number is 16, and the predetermined length is 4096signals.
 5. A method as in claim 2, wherein the at least one transformis a Walsh Hadamard transform.
 6. A method as in claim 2, wherein therespective signal corresponding to the at least one transform is asquare of the amplitude of the transform signal.
 7. A method as in claim2, wherein the sum signal corresponds to a match between the data streamand one of a plurality of codes.
 8. A method as in claim 1, comprising:producing a plurality of products, each product comprising a respectivetransform signal and complex conjugates of another respective transformsignal; and summing a plurality of the products at each of a thirdnumber of sum circuits, thereby producing the third number of sumsignals.
 9. A method as in claim 8, wherein a product of the first andsecond numbers is equal to the predetermined length.
 10. A method as inclaim 9, wherein the first number is 4, the second number is 1024, thethird number is 16, and the predetermined length is 4096 signals.
 11. Amethod as in claim 8, wherein the at least one transform is a WalshHadamard transform.
 12. A method as in claim 8, wherein the sum signalcorresponds to a match between the data stream and one of a plurality ofcodes.
 13. A method of decoding a data sequence having a group ofsignals repeated a predetermined number of times, comprising the stepsof: applying one signal from each group to a respective despreadercircuit of a plurality of despreader circuits, each despreader circuitof the plurality of despreader circuits producing a respective outputsignal; and producing at least one transform from the output signals ofthe plurality of despreader circuits, the at least one transform havinga second number of signals.
 14. A method as in claim 13, wherein theplurality of despreader circuits comprises 64 despreader circuits.
 15. Amethod as in claim 13, wherein the at least one transform comprises 4transforms.
 16. A method as in claim 13, wherein the at least onetransform is a Walsh Hadamard transform.
 17. A method as in claim 13,comprising summing a respective signal corresponding to the at least onetransform at a respective sum circuit, thereby producing a plurality ofsum signals, wherein the plurality of sum signals corresponds to a matchbetween the group of signals and one of a plurality of codes.
 18. Amethod as in claim 13, comprising summing a respective signalcorresponding to the at least one transform at a respective sum circuit,thereby producing a plurality of sum signals.
 19. A method as in claim13, comprising: producing a plurality of products, each productcomprising a respective transform signal and complex conjugates ofanother respective transform signal; and summing a plurality of theproducts at each of a plurality of sum circuits, thereby producing aplurality of sum signals.
 20. A method of communicating with a remotedevice, comprising the steps of: selecting a first code from a pluralityof orthogonal codes; repeating the first code a plurality of times toproduce a sequence having a predetermined length; combining the sequencewith a second code having the predetermined length to produce apreamble; transmitting the preamble to the remote device; and receivingan acknowledgement from the remote device in response to the step oftransmitting.
 21. A method as in claim 20, wherein the plurality oforthogonal codes are Walsh Hadamard codes corresponding to users in awireless cell and wherein the second code is a scrambling codecorresponding to a wireless cell.